Amid mass firings, the Pentagon has effectively put a halt on the use of travel and purchasing credit cards by its civilian employees and ordered any workers currently traveling to return as soon as possible, according to a pair of memos issued this week.

One memo puts a $1 limit on the government cards, which renders them mostly useless and will likely bar employees from making a wide range of purchases related to work with the Defense Department. The restrictions come as the Pentagon is firing 5,400 civilian employees -- with plans to reduce its workforce by 5% to 8% as part of the Trump administration's ongoing effort to dramatically remake the government.

Workers at agencies across the federal government have been hit with the government charge card cap at the behest of billionaire Elon Musk^[1], who is also firing tens of thousands of other federal employees and slashing agencies through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with the blessing of President Donald Trump. The president ordered cost-cutting measures for government employees in an executive order^[2] on Feb. 26.

Read Next: Pentagon's No. 2 Spokesperson Has Long History of Antisemitic, Bigoted Social Media Posts^[3]

The Pentagon's acting head of acquisition and sustainment, Steven Morani, issued the memo ordering the virtual halt^[4] in the use of government purchase cards by civilian employees.

In that memo, the Pentagon temporarily reduced the spending limit to $1 on all government purchase cards, which are normally used to streamline purchasing things as basic as office supplies to items as expensive as $10,000^[5].

"The use of government-issued [government purchase card] accounts to fund activities initiated on or before Feb. 26, 2025, will cease as soon as feasible within the bounds of law," the memo read.

It is not immediately clear what impact the cap on charges will have on Pentagon operations.

The purchase card memo does make exemptions for "disaster relief or natural disaster response benefits or operations, or other critical services," or on existing contracts that remain active until April 9.

Another memo -- this time from Darin Selnick, who is performing the duties of under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness -- restricting travel for civilian workers came a day after the restriction on government charge cards.

"Effective immediately, the use of all government-issued travel charge cards by DoD civilian employees is suspended for all travel that is not exempted," Selnick's memos says^[6].

The only exemption, according to that memo, is for "direct support of military operations or a permanent change of station^[7]," known as a PCS^[8] move.

It is not clear what the broader impact of the new travel ban will be or how much money it would save the department. Musk's DOGE has claimed widespread savings as it hacks its way through the federal government, but many of the claims have been inaccurate or unsupported.

On Monday, the Pentagon's top spokesman said that Musk's team of aides, who were recently granted access to the department, had made cuts that "probably" saved $80 million but only provided examples that support $13 million in cuts -- a minuscule fraction of the department's roughly $840 billion annual budget.

Some effects of Musk cuts have already been seen.

Military.com has learned^[9] that civilian workers in at least four agencies -- the Defense Health Agency, Defense Logistics Agency, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and the Navy^[10] -- were fired this week.

"Gosh, it was insanely impersonal. We were not allowed the opportunity to ask questions, nothing. It was basically, 'Here it is. You have questions? Ask your supervisors,' who were also in the dark, by the way," said one DHA employee, who requested anonymity out of hope that she may be reinstated.

In another example, Hill Air Force Base^[11] in Utah is scaling back its child development centers due to the Trump and Musk job cuts, meaning Gold Star spouses^[12] and other defense employees were expected to lose child care as soon as this week^[13].

Military.com reported^[14] Tuesday that the Air and Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado -- one of just two major professional development conferences for the two services -- had noticeably lower attendance than in previous years.

Officials confirmed to Military.com that Trump's order was behind the decreased numbers and that they limited attendance to only people who had a "direct role" in the conference in order to comply with "the spirit of the president's executive order."

Related: Firings Begin at the Pentagon: Veterans, Civil Servants Caught in the Crosshairs^[15]

The U.S. Army^[1] War College's website, since at least Wednesday evening, has shown only one page: a notice about ongoing content removal under the Trump administration's new guidelines to scrub mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Under Department of Defense instructions, the notice states vaguely, "certain posts have been removed, are in a process of being removed, or modified to maintain consistency with federal guidance and uphold the integrity of our official communication channels."

This notice, in yellow text over a dark gray background, was also recently posted by the War College's Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts, plus the Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle Barrack^[2]s Garrison Commander and Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg.

The content scrubbing stems from a Feb. 26 Pentagon memo ordering a "digital content refresh" on military websites and social accounts by March 5. Defense department organizations were ordered "to remove all DoD news and feature articles, photos and videos that promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)."

"A blanket statement should be provided on social media platforms to acknowledge content was removed to align with the president's executive orders and DoD priorities," the memo said.

The memo said DEI content is "information that promotes programs, concepts or materials about critical race theory, gender ideology and preferential treatment or quotas based upon sex, race or ethnicity, or other DEI-related matters with respect to promotion and selection reform, advisory boards, councils and working groups."

Other materials to be removed include that which "is counter to merit-based or color-blind policies" or promotes cultural awareness months.

This guidance does not apply to content required by law to be publicly available or content related to normal operations, the memo says. Examples are base conditions, leadership biographies and information about on-base school and commissary^[3] operations.

Brian Fickel, public affairs and legislative liaison with the college, also said that no content related to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School or the disinterment process has been affected by the guidance. The War College does not maintain a DEI office or any DEI-related functions, he said.

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The college's online review comes as President Donald Trump's administration, less than six weeks old, attempts major financial and cultural changes across federal agencies.

In the military, for example, transgender people are no longer allowed to join, and servicemembers who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine may now return.

"We've ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government. And indeed the private sector and our military," Trump said in his Tuesday night address to Congress. "And our country will be woke no longer."

The college's X account posted its content review notice Wednesday afternoon, and its Facebook page posted it Monday morning.

Fellow military graduate schools posted notices, too, including the Naval War College in Rhode Island, Air University in Alabama, Army University in Kansas, Marine Corps^[4] University in Virginia and National Defense University in Washington, D.C.

While the Army War College's main website is down, so too are its subdomains for things like for the Strategic Studies Institute and the college's publishing office for books and research.

It's unclear when the college's website will return to normal, but Fickel said the plan is to restore access soon as the review is complete.

Trump says he's stamped out diversity and inclusion initiatives, brags about gender policy

President Donald Trump has begun his address to Congress and the American people, laying out his plans for the months ahead. Trump said he's stamped out diversity and inclusion initiatives nationwide. "Our country will be woke no longer," Trump said.

© 2025 The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.).

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